Chapman celebrates Earth Day with mediation session

Jay Kumar, Chapman University’s director of Wellbeing, led an Earth Day meditation session April 22 aimed to build communion and connection between students and the planet. Unsplash

After months of quarantine and the unsolicited self-introspection that came with it, many individuals are renewing their awareness about their place in the environment.

Chapman’s Office of Sustainability partnered with the Fish Interfaith Center to put on an April 22 virtual mediation event led by Jay Kumar, Chapman’s director of Wellbeing. Entitled “Renewing Hope: An Earth-Day Ritual Connecting to Planet and Spirit,” the event encouraged students, staff and faculty to continue their path of reflection and connect to  the planet through ritualistic practice.  

“One of the things that is so important about this event is that rituals help us mark a sense of time,” Kumar said. “Whether they be rituals like religious holidays or the seasons, we are currently missing out on a lot of rituals like graduation, homecoming and classes, so this is just a way for us to recognize how we can engage in ritual together.” 

Lexi Hernandez, a junior sociology and environmental science and policy double major at Chapman, told The Panther that COVID-19 has encouraged people like her to find peace and serenity in nature, during a time when everything else was inaccessible or closed.

“The environment isn't just when you go out on hikes,” Hernandez said. “It's when you're sitting on Memorial Lawn. It's when you're sitting in your backyard. We are all part of nature and the natural world.” 

Chapman’s Vice President of Research Thomas Piechota told The Panther COVID-19 has had a broad positive impact on the environment.

“In general, air quality and water quality improved due to a slowdown in the economy and lockdowns,” Piechota said. “That will likely change as the economy opens back up, but it will be interesting to see how the amount of remote work changes and whether that will have a positive impact on reducing congestion.”

The coronavirus pandemic also temporarily decreased carbon dioxide emissions by 25% in China, a heavily populated country. Conversely, one of the primary ramifications of quarantine is the resulting increase in technology usage and screen time. 

“COVID-19 has made us respect nature … (but) we are experiencing what I call a nature deficit disorder right now,” Kumar said. “A lot of us are glued to our devices, so I think that it is important to remember that our brains evolved to find comfort in nature and the planet.” 

Although many students are still attending classes online, Kumar told The Panther that there are many simple acts that students can do to honor their connection to the planet and to themselves, rather than advocating solely through their electronic devices. He encouraged students to be mindful of consumption of energy, to carpool when they can and to pick up trash around the community. 

To Hernandez, one of the simplest ways to motivate others to respect and value the environment is to educate on environmental justice and activism. Hernandez told The Panther that this education is often not taught in a school environment, but rather involves the individual seeking out such information on their own volition.

Hernandez has taken action herself to make sure that environmental justice is taught in a university setting. She is part of the Chapman Environmental Justice Coalition, a student and alumni coalition that demanded an environmental justice course at Chapman, with the goal of making the class mandatory for environmental science and policy students. 

“When we talk about environmentalism and climate change, it's really easy to talk about things that are going to affect future generations,” Hernandez said. “But climate change and environmental action are all things that are affecting people right now.”